Even as a Chelsea fan I have to admit, the final score line in this match was a little misleading. I think Norwich deserves a lot of credit for the way they've started this season. They play HARD.
Chelsea came out to a blistering start in a surprise 4-4-2 formation. Villas-Boas elected to pair Drogba and Torres up top instead of going with the 4-3-3 that Chelsea has sported. I think it was a great call. Bosingwa and Cole came up in awesome attacking roles, and Bosingwa was right in the action all night. In fact, he gave the Blues a goal with a laser shot in the 6th minute, 1-0 to the home side.
For the next few minutes, Chelsea continued to dominate, but around the 20th minute, Norwich got their feet under them. They forced several saves from Hilario and really tested the Chelsea back line. John Terry mixed it up with Holt all day. It became obvious that it wasn't going to be the walk in the park us Chelsea fans hoped for. Still, Frank Lampard just missed another goal for Chelsea right before half. The Blues led at the interval 1-0.
Villas-Boas must have rallied the troops at half time, because Chelsea was the stronger team for most of the second half. However, Norwich got their chance and the made the most of it. In the 63rd, Hilario and Ivanovic collided in the area for Chelsea and Holt hit the back of the net to tie it at 1-1. It got worse for Chelsea just minutes later as Drogba collided with the Norwich keeper and looked to be out cold. He was stretchered off and things looked kind of bleak.
After a lengthy stoppage to treat Drogba, Juan Mata and Nicholas Anelka checked in and Chelsea took control of the match. Finally. In the 80th minute Ruddy brought down Ramires in the box and got a red card for his trouble. The Canaries sent in their back up keeper, but he couldn't stop Lampard's PK, and it was 2-1 to Chelsea. The Blues added a cosmetic goal from Mata in the 11th minute of stoppage time to make 3-1 at full time.
Drogba was released from a London hospital last night, no word on how long he will be out. Lukaku made his Chelsea debut and looked pretty good. Before Drogba went down, he and Torres were starting to find the formula. Maybe Mata can unlock the Torres goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment